


Only Human

by jebbypal



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-05
Updated: 2006-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-10 05:03:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/95778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jebbypal/pseuds/jebbypal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Book finds it hard to remember he's human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Human

The peace of the abbey is a balm to Book's soul, but redemption cannot be found without penance. He's given time to adjust and then assigned the sacrament of confession. An honor, it would appear, except Book's spent so long hiding from his own sins that hearing others bare all is…discomforting.  
Still, he's never been one to do an assignment less than perfectly.  
Persephone is an average world that floats just out of reach of the safety and prosperity of the core, and the trespasses of its denizens are just as petty and vulgar as those of their loftier cousins.  
He almost gets comfortable with his task, almost falls prey to the sin of arrogance, when the girl's voice cuts through the confessional screen.  
At least she sounds no more than a girl, which only makes the words issuing from her lips all the more obscene.  
"- blood was everywhere. Not a spot anywhere in the room without a speckle or a drop. I could actually hear it dripping, but I didn't dare move. Not even to close my eyes. I saw them all die. And I began to hate."  
He can see it clear as day. God forgive him, he can see every single piece of it down to the color of her hair.  
"When I smelled the smoke, I thought for sure that I'd die too. Hoped for it in a way. But I must have said something."  
_The screams. They echoed through the valley even as the smoke turned day into night._  
"He pulled me out. Uniform as purple as the ones that had butchered the rest, but he pulled me out. I don't know if I'll ever forgive him."  
_Kicking, punching, dragging. Dropping the furious bundles of life on the ground and walking away. Walking back to their ships, to the next deployment._  
"The hate stayed with me, Shepherd. God help me, it stayed with me. Anger burned even after I fought in my first battle and killed several purple bellies with my own guns. My unit, we captured two one night. It was too far to take them back to camp, but we couldn't very well let them go. I volunteered to interrogate them."  
_Nails pulled. More screaming. There was always the screams. The human voice is capable of amazing registers in response to pain. Fire. Burns. Blood. _  
"I enjoyed it. I thought I did. But now I can't sleep through the night without waking to see the faces of those poor boys. God, I'm a monster."  
The sound of weeping breaks Book's trance. "No, my child. You're merely human." He wished he could believe the same of himself.


End file.
